Barbara Shermund

Barbara Shermund was born on June 26, 1899, in San Francisco, California. Her birth date is from the Social Security Death Index and the birthplace is based on the 1900 U. S. Federal Census when she was ten months old. Her parents were Henry, a draughtsman, and Freda, a Canadian. They resided in San Francisco at 1602 Steiner Street. Apparently Shermund’s earliest published work was in the San Francisco Chronicle ’s children’s page on May 3, 1908. In the 1910 census the Shermunds San Francisco address was 1001 H Street. Shermund’s father was an architect. The San Francisco Call , September 30, 1911, published Shermund’s story, “What Billy Found”. At the time she was in the seventh grade at Crocker Grammar School. On October 18, 1912 the Chronicle reported the upcoming benefit performance for the Protection of Motherhood at the Valencia Theater. Shermund was in the octet singing group (detail below). After high school Shermund continued her art training at the California School of Fine Arts. The International Studio , June 1919, reported the Art Students’ League of New York annual scholarship competition, which was open to all art students in the United States, except those in New York City. “Ten scholarships were awarded to students whose work was adjudged to show the greatest promise….The scholarships entitle their holders to free tuition in any two classes conducted by the League during the season of 1919–1920, or in the classes of the League’s Summer school at Woodstock during the coming summer.” Shermund was awarded an honorable mention . The Tribune , May 23, 1920, covered the California School of Fine Arts graduation program and announced the class prizes. Shermund was awarded first prize in the portrait class whose instructor was E. Spencer Macky. She also received the “Dr. George P. Wintermute prize for the most progress made in portrait class.” In Maynard Dixon’s illustration class Shermund landed a second prize. The second edition of Neill Compton Wilson’s A City of Caprice (1921) featured seven etchings by Shermund. The 1922 and 1923 Crocker-Langley San Francisco City Directories listed Shermund’s studio at 535 Sacramento and her residence at 1001 Lincoln Way. Her father had the same home address. Around 1925 Shermund visited New York City. The Red Bank Register (New Jersey), April 12, 1961, profiled ten cartoonists including Shermund and said Barbara Shermund studied painting, sculpture, etching and design at the California School of Fine Arts. She came to New York on a visit, ate up her return trip ticket and stayed. She stated she had no idea of becoming a cartoonist. Her first efforts were for the New Yorker Magazine for which she did spots, department headings and covers. One day she was told she must write lines under her drawings, and this put her on the road to her present work…. Her covers and cartoons for The New Yorker appeared from 1925 to 1944. Shermund returned to New York from a trip to Europe on July 29, 1929. The passenger list (at Ancestry.com) said she departed Havre, France July 20. Her address was 18 Gramercy Park South, New York City. Shermund made another trip to Europe in 1931. Again, departing from Havre, January 23, she arrived in New York February 3. Her home address was unchanged. Shermund has not yet been found in the 1940 census. New York City telephone directories listed Shermund at three addresses. In 1942 she was at 55 East 9th Street. 1944 and 1945 directories listed her in Staten Island at 60 Daniel Lower Terrace. Directories from 1948 to 1960 had her address as 115 East 37th Street. The Wilmington Morning Star (North Carolina), October 24, 1942, published an Associated Press photograph of Shemund, Varga and Howard Baers in Hollywood where they judged the best features of some of MGM’s women. The three artists’ disagreemen t was mentioned in the Morning Star November 5. King Features Syndicate distributed Shermund’s Sallies from August 13, 1944 to June 2, 1957. She